According to a court ruling, Germany must improve its air pollution control program. The federal government's plan does not comply with EU requirements, decided the Berlin-Brandenburg Higher Administrative Court.
The German government must tighten up parts of its national air pollution control program. This was decided by the Berlin-Brandenburg Higher Administrative Court. The measures listed so far are not sufficient in all respects to achieve the European goals of reducing the emission of air pollutants, according to the judges.
The court stated that the government had based the program on data that was no longer current. The government's forecasts of air quality in the program were therefore not plausible. For example, the halt to purchase premiums for electric cars or the changes to the EU emissions directive Euro 7 had to be taken into account.
Successful lawsuit
The court thus largely upheld a lawsuit filed by the German Environmental Aid (DUH) and the organization Client Earth. They had invoked an EU directive that sets out specific requirements for lower emissions of pollutants. This concerns ammonia, sulfur and nitrogen oxides as well as fine dust. Specifically, the DUH accused the federal government of violating the European directive on the reduction of national emissions of certain air pollutants.
In May, the federal government updated the National Air Pollution Control Program adopted in 2019. The DUH criticized the fact that data from the Federal Environment Agency from 2023 was used for this purpose, but not the report on greenhouse gas emissions for 2024, which was already available at that time.
The federal government's lawyers, however, explained that it had been difficult to obtain current data for updating the air quality control program. A new assessment would have resulted in delays and possible infringement proceedings by the EU Commission.
Judgment not yet final
The ruling is not legally binding. Because of its fundamental importance, the judges allowed an appeal to the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig.
The DUH had already successfully filed a lawsuit against the federal government in mid-May. At that time, the Higher Administrative Court (OVG) had ruled that the federal government must tighten up its climate protection program.
